Wolf attack jogger: hunt planned by plane and on foot for deadly pack

Wildlife officials and state troopers in Alaska are to hunt down and kill a pack of wolves that mauled a teacher to death while she was out jogging.

Candice Berner: The death of Ms Berner has led to new debate by Alaskans about their state's predator control programme, which some say is not protecting citizens enoughPhoto: AP

By Jacqui Goddard in Miami

4:45PM GMT 13 Mar 2010

The partially-eaten body of Candice Berner, 32, was found after search teams on snowmobiles followed a trail of blood through woodland at Chignik Lake, where she had been running alone on a remote road last Monday.

The chilling attack - the first fatal wolf encounter on record in the state - has left locals in the tiny village of Chignik in fear of their own lives, forcing parents to escort their children to school and leading others to mount armed patrols in an attempt to prevent further tragedy. Villagers have reported fresh wolf-tracks in the snow close to their community, adding to safety concerns.

The state's Department of Fish and Game and state troopers now plan to launch an aerial hunt for the wolves using a helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft, but were yesterday waiting for snowstorms to clear.

"We'll stay as long as we can to make sure the public feels as safe as we can make them feel living in Alaska," said Colonel Audie Holloway of the Alaska State Troopers.

Between 7,700 and 11,200 wolves live wild in Alaska and while encounters with humans are generally non-confrontational, several villagers at Chignik Lake had reported "threatening encounters" with them in recent days.

Ms Berner's father, Bob Berner, told the Anchorage Daily News that his daughter - who at 4ft 11ins was "small but mighty" - was listening to her iPod while taking a late afternoon run and was unlikely to have noticed that she was being stalked.

"She was probably not aware of them until they actually lunged at her or attacked her," he said. "She did the best she could, but they figured there were two of them for sure, maybe three ... She put up a struggle. It was not an immediate thing," he added.

A post-mortem examination concluded that the cause of death was "multiple injuries due to animal mauling."

"They were just doing what wolves do. Their nature happened to kill my daughter but I don't have any anger towards wolves," said Mr Berner.

State troopers who investigated the scene found pawprints around Ms Berner's body, which had been torn and partially eaten, and bloody drag marks in the snow. They found that she was probably chased down and attacked for around 150 feet before she went down.

"She was bleeding as she was being moved, being dragged, and there was damage to the throat," said Cpl Holloway.

"The medical examiner concluded that she wasn't killed by any other method and that the damage to the throat was severe. There were animal bite marks on the throat. Wolves, just like big cats, usually attack the wind pipe area and try to control the victim that way."

The US Fish and Wildlife Service, which has authority over the nearby Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge, has approved a special ten-day permit allowing state-approved hunters to cross the refuge's boundaries to hunt down the wolves - which is usually banned.

The death of Ms Berner has led to new debate by Alaskans about their state's predator control programme, which some say is not protecting citizens enough. Locals in Pilot Point, another community on the Alaska Peninsula, say that wolves have often come into their community and dragged away pet dogs.

But others are against introducing tougher controls that would allow members of the public to shoot and kill wolves at their own discretion.

"To me, it's a pretty bogus issue although I know it strikes at the heart strings of a lot of people who want to be macho and go out there and kill animals," said John Toppenberg, director of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, told the KTVA television channel.

Shooting at wolves will make them more desperate, he predicted. "They become far more likely to go into towns, to frequent trails, to become problem wolves," he said.